Dowm The Danube

Bank oL Danube, Hungary, July 25, '96. Editor Courier: I was obliged to close my last letter while describing our meeting with the flrst large steam boat which we hád seen. We gave the monster a wide berth, but evtn then were tossed pretty se verely by the billows, which its' perculiar mode of loeomotion stirred up. By the time the troubled waters were quiet again we had floated out of sight of Passau. That was the last Germán city, and now, between lofty, wooded banks, we drifted toward Austrian territory. It began to rain and another steam-boat approached. In attempting to dodge it, I got above a dam made half way across the river to deepen the other side. The current bore us swiftly toward the water falling over the dam and the steam-boat made the open stream too dangerous. I pulled for the shore and reached it barely 10 feet above the dam. We both leaped ashore and dragged the boat out of the reach of the waves from the steamer. It was some sylvaa resort of rustics evidently, for there were wooden benches among the trees, and while we sat with umbrellas over us awaiting the cessation of the rain, we heard the tittering of peasant girls, who were watching us from some covert. The rain ceased and we towed the boat up far enough so that by rowing determinedly I got past the end of the da m before the swift waters could bear us upon it. We drifted on past Kreimpelstein, the abrupt cliff with a frowning tower, past Obernzell with its graphite qtiarries and a fine old chauteau, high on a pine ciad hill, until we came to the flrst Austrian town. Then the rain descended and the floods carne, just asa custom house officer in green hat and coat and white duck trousers gesticulated wildly from bis little station house on shore . I assured him with a "ja, ja" and pulled lustily for shore. The current carried us far below and the zealous official trotted alone: the bank to meet us. He seized the prow of the boat at last, and after a good natured curso ry examination charged me 20 kreutzers (8 cents) for something and let us go. He stood in the rain and stared stolidly at the queer woman, who sat calmly and allowed a man to do the work. The scenery from Passau to Vienna is superb. My wife and I have gone bato every ecstasy known to poesy, but "ohs" and "ahs" and "isn't it lovely," and the thousand adjectives familiar to delighted tourists, will not picture its grandeur and beauty to you. I can say decisively that it far surpasses the Rhine or Hudson in marvelous scènes of beauty, and its historie associations range from the dawn of history to the present time. Everything is superlative and if it were not haunted by dragons and fiery monsters in the form of huge water-vexing steamboats, it would be perfect. On we went gazing with awe upon large Cistertiau monasteries, ruins, or pine-clad rocks, and the ancient towers of some mediaeval castle rising superior to some mountain summit, queer little towns hump their backs up to the river and present a solid wall of masonry the rear wall of their houses. In the middle ages this was their means of defense. The rocks in the river make it nervous work in parts of the Danube to guide a boat safely. Swirling, rushing, and grumbling waters warned us momently, now to one side now another. At Hayenback, the now noble stream is contracted to nearly half its width and precipitous wooded hills compress the mass of waters so that they pour violently through and hurry the river crafts with them . We were enjoying the rapid motion when we saw one of the monster steamboats coming laboriously up stream. Reasoning that it would avoid the current, I got our pigmy boat into the swiftest stream and awaited the meeting. Great waves rolled off the Bteamer's prow, and in the wake of its propellor. When at last we were among the tossing waters, we had an extremely uncomfortable passage, but, as we issued into the calm stream, we were pleased to know how much our boat could stand. Then we had time to observe a mountain side covered with rocks of grotesque and suggestive shapes, a veritable Garden of the Gods in miniature. Bevond was a hillside of gradual ascent screened by pines of the loveliest green. There were enough Christmas trees for an eternity of Christmasses. Every shaggy, frowning rock wears a diadem, built ages ago by proud barons, and standing now in fantastic ruin. Now a wall, now a tower stands, seldom both. The rain came at night just as our camp was ready. There was a pleasure like that of playing house as a child, when we crawled into our sung waterproof tent. The little alcohol lamp soon set the water in the pot to steaming merrily, and after a warm supper we slept cosily. My unshaven beard has attained such lengths that my wife insists that I resemble a nomad patriarch as I sit in our little tent. Early on a rainless morning we were afloat again. Tn the stream and tied to shore was tbe never t'ailing striped boat, states prison boats we cali them. The stripes are red and white or black and white, and run vertioally, about tw} iuches wide, the whole length of the boat. Peasant women high on a mountain sidc were piling wood, which they then slip down in well worn grooves to the water's edge. Herr von Planck's handsome chateau at Iseuhans nearly proved a destructive siren, for, while I was intent on kodaking it, a steamboat nearly ran us down. We cali the steamers "Silent Destroyers" and "Angels of Death" because they come upon us with no warning. The stearn barges, sidewheelers look like a tailor's goose. The hills subsided for a time, and in the pleasant plain we carne upon Aschah scène of a great revolt of peasantry in 1G26. The insurgents actually chained the old Danube, and prevented the Bavariana coming to the aid of Count Herbersteiu. Far to the sou th we could see the Syrian and Austrian Alps. The fields here are laid out like an agricul;ural show, and consummate art is shown.